Virtual reality systems (or “virtual environment systems,” or “virtual reality environments”) are configured to provide an enhanced graphical experience to users of computers, and to effectively immerse the users within their respective computing environments. Virtual reality systems may include any number of monitors or other displays, as well as one or more motion sensors that may be used to track positions and/or motion of one or more limbs or other body parts. In some instances, virtual reality systems include monitors, displays and/or sensors that may be worn on or about the human body. By rendering visual information in a three-dimensional orientation around a user, and tracking the user's movements or other responses to the rendered information, a virtual reality system may permit the user to physically interact with aspects of a simulated environment from within an actual, real-world environment. Currently, virtual reality systems are used not only in graphical applications such as video games or movies but also in other computing environments or platforms such as for virtual training (e.g., for simulating the performance of expensive or complex tasks such as surgical procedures or military operations), virtual modeling (e.g., for describing planned physical structures, such as physical structures that are under construction) or like applications, with the goal of virtually simulating an actual environment to the maximum extent practicable.
Many virtual reality systems must be calibrated prior to use, with the goal of establishing a space, sometimes called a “play area,” surrounded by one or more “virtual boundaries,” within an actual environment within which a user may operate while interacting with a simulated environment. In some instances, calibrating a virtual system to establish a play area involves tracking one or more portions of a user's body as the user executes one or more gestures or poses within the actual environment. Virtual boundaries may be defined based on the tracked motion of the user's body which, presumably, does not come into contact with any walls, furniture or other obstacles during a calibration process. Once a play area has been established, a user who is within the play area may be alerted by the virtual reality system when he or she has approached or breached a virtual boundary, and may be prompted to return to the play area accordingly.
Currently, many virtual reality systems are plagued by a number of limitations. For example, a play area typically must be established according to one or more calibration processes each time that a virtual reality system is used in a new location. As virtual reality systems become smaller and more portable, this requirement becomes more and more cumbersome. Additionally, not every virtual reality application requires a play area of the same size. Moreover, most virtual reality systems assume that a floor within a play area is perfectly flat, when this assumption frequently does not coincide with reality.